Dragon Age: Displacement
by Smam30
Summary: What was supposed to be a normal day turns into a life changing adventure. When someone from Earths ends up in Thedas he has a strange mark on his hand. This turns out to be the least strange thing that happens as Magic, Demons, Elves, Dwarfs, & Qunari all bring questions with no answer. The two most prevalent ones though are "How did i get here" and "Who the Hell's Andraste".
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: **Hello readers. I received Dragon Age Inquisition for Christmas and I absolutely adore it. I love the story, the characters, the lore, Everything is just so well done. So as I was playing through(Still have not beaten it yet, but so close) a thought ran through my head, how would someone from Earth deal with being in Thedas.** **So this story happened. I will follow the main story, but with my own twists. Rating may be subject to change if things get too...mature. Anyway, I hope you** **Enjoy. **

Chapter 1: Everyday life

"Damn it I'm going to be late, again" I exclaim loudly to nobody as I hastily put my pants on. This is the third time this week. I run to my bedroom mirror to fix my hair and check for any blemishes. I reach the mirror and am glad to find no such things on my body. I run my hand through my short black hair and take quick stock. Skin still tan, that's good seeing as I was born that way, almost black eyes, check, nothing in the facial hair department… sadly still nope. Facial features akin to Mexican Jonah Hill, double check. Well, time get some higher learning. I grab my favorite jacket, black and made of fleece; grab my favorite hat, which looks like an old paperboy's hat, open the door and bolt out- forgot to lock the door. I have to hurry or I'll miss the bus. I get to the bus stop and see the regulars, men in suits and a woman carrying some sort of box with a bakery's name on the lid. Less than 20 seconds pass when the public bus arrives and opens its door. After a quick greeting to the driver I take a seat in the middle of the bus. Window seat, that's awesome. I get comfortable and look out the window as the bus goes along its route. I see old buildings hanging on to life as they try to keep the years off and new ones bringing more and more newcomers curious of the new attractions they hold. Soon the bus reaches my stop and I start jogging my way to my university. It's not weird that I walk to school. 'Course people are like 'Why doesn't a senior have a car' or, 'How could the Military not change your forgetful nature', or 'how do you stay so handsome'… maybe not the last one. I get a call on my phone, I look and see that it's the student body president, oh joy. I answer.

"Hello" I say timidly

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU" she shouts so loud that I have to take the phone away from my ear

"Good morning to you too Abby" I say

"First, its Abigail NOT Abby"

"I'm still going to call you that"

"Second, where are you, the assembly starts in 30 minutes and you're nowhere to be seen"

"I'm on my way right now"

"How close" she asks as if barely controlling her anger

I juke right to avoid knocking into a person "I estimate around 20 minutes"

"Jesus man, hurry"

"What's the rush, miss me to much" I say smugly

"As if, how can you forget that THE GODDAMN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATED is coming to address the senior and junior classes."

"I hardly see why this is a _me _problem"

"All the clubs are going to do presentations for him"

"…and"

"_Excuse me_ Mr. Kendo club president"

"That's a thing" I ask more trying to get a ruse out of her than anything

"OF COURSE IT'S A THING" she yells

"Calm down, you're going to pop a blood vessel" the only reply I got was a menacing growl. I laugh "look I'll be there. Don't-"juke to the left "worry about it"

"You better be or so help me I'll-"she started

"K thanks bye" I say and hang up and turn to the guy beside me "some people, am I right" to which he awkwardly nods.

It took longer than I thought due to traffic, but I think I made it in-

"YOU'RE LATE" shrieks Abby. Damn. Abby looks more professional than usual, which is an accomplishment on its own. Her auburn hair tied in a bun; she has glasses that are pointed on the side; and she has a black suit jacket and purple shirt and skirt.

"Oh am I" I ask slyly

"YES! Yes you are. The President is in there getting a rundown of theoretical physics by the science club and you have the GALL to show up late."

"…We have a science club" I ask sincerely confused. She looks like she wants to yell more but just settles for a face-palm. She looks like she has calmed down significantly.

"Look you may be a total jerk-"oh golly thanks "but, your team has won a lot of championships"

"I know right, and I'm not even the best one" I say proudly.

She heaves a heavy sigh "Your club mates are already in there with the proper gear. I'm going to have you do an exhibition match. Then you can go about your day" she explains.

"Ok sounds simple enough"

We head into the practice gym where the club presidents are doing their presentations in front of our Leader and dozens of cameras pointed at both sets of presidents. I see all kinds of people and weird inventions they spent all year to make, along with other sports clubs getting some practice in. I put my hands behind my head as I scan the gym for my team. I quickly spot them and only a few of them actually have their gear on. I quickly walk over to them as they spot me and wave. I see all six of the kendo club, three of whom are in full kendo-gi and _Hakama_. Head count, Sam, Will, John, Allie, Joseph, and John Paul, first three being in full gear.

"Late again I see" John remarks as he gestures to the extra set of gear beside them

"Yeah yeah, sue me" I say as I start to get ready for the match while greeting everybody else.

"Better hurry, we're on next" Will said.

"Like I told Abby, Don't worry" I said. Strap this here…

"Abigail told you what we're doing right" Sam asked.

"Yeah yeah… match, president, theoretical physics," I say halfheartedly. This goes here.

"And you're fine with it" John asks cautiously.

"Why wouldn't I" this could be a new record- wait that's backwards.

"Cause it's a four way match" Allie interjects

"Done… Wait what"

"Thank you Melvin for that riveting presentation about the possibility of parallel world" Abby says on the loud speakers they hooked up. "Would you like to say something Mr. President" then the old man takes the microphone and gives a small speech about how 'important it is to keep the impossible in mind in order to reach the possible things' or something like that, I was too busy with the silent conversation I was having with my _dear_ student body pencil pusher. She can have such a smug look.

Once he was done she took her place back at the podium. "Thank you Mr. President. Our next presentation will come from the kendo club. They have won multiple championships ranging from local to national. They even placed ninth in the international tournament held in Tokyo." While she was saying how great we are, my team and I went to the center of the gym where they placed mats. We were waving to the other club members and the cameras. "Now the club President, Sezar *******, will now give a speech about the importance of his club." Oh I can just _feel_ the satisfaction coming from her words when she said that. I give her a wide eyed look and turn to the president.

"Hello Mr. President, let me first thank you for choosing to come to our fine school today. Now I could tell you the history of kendo and the way of the sword, believe me I could, "total bull "But why use words when you can use action" I say as I put my helmet on. I turn to the others and nod. They then take their places. Sam is to my right, Will to my left, and John is in front of me. I turn to look at Sam. He is the newest member so he'll probably want to show off in front of everybody and attack me, though he is a fast learner he is too offensive and hardly has a guard. I look towards Will. He has some sort of vendetta against John ever since he lost to him a couple of months back, so he'll attack him, he has the opposite problem as Sam, he plays to defensively, he only strikes when he sees an opening, though simple fake outs still get to him. The one I need to worry about is John. He is, quite possibly, the best one on the team. He has only lost twice, once to a guy that went on to win the international championship, and once, to me, and I got lucky. He'll be too distracted by Will to go after me first, so I have to get Sam eliminated by the time he's done with Will or I'll have to deal with two guys at once.

Sam makes the first move and, as expected, heads towards me and swings in an overhead swipe to which I easily parry. He keeps attacking with furious swipes from left, right, up, and down, all the while I keep on the defensive. I hear the sound of wood on wood next to us and I can tell that someone is giving it their all, my money's on Will. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I nearly got hit by Sam but I had enough time to get my sword up in an awkward block.

"Don't get distracted now" Sam said cockily. He then raised his sword over his head but in doing so he left his mid-section open and I took advantage by thrusting into his gut. He doubles over, still needs to work on his pain tolerance, and I side step and do an overhead swipe to his back which sends him on the ground.

"You need to work on your defense, I give you a 75 for being able to keep me on guard" I say sagely. I then see that John is going on the attack and it is all Will can do to keep up. Soon though it became too much for him as John bonked him on the head, swiped his feet and stabbed his midsection. I winced when I saw that.

"Brutal" I say in a deep voice. That gets the attention of John as Sam and Will get up and get off the mat.

Before starting I bow to John and he reciprocates and gets into his stance. I sigh and get into mine. We do a stare-down as we see who will crack and attack first. It must have been a full three minutes before I got tired of waiting and went on the offensive. Every blow I try to land is blocked and parried as he tries to get around my defense. To my credit I am making him work. Soon he tries to land blows that I dodge or parry. We do this dance for around five minutes before we break apart, both panting with exertion. I had a couple close calls and I almost had him once but he dodged it by a hair. We stare at each other again and we both break out in a charge towards each other, yelling war cries. I go for an overhead strike and he goes for an underhand strike. I wince when a resounding smack rang around the gym and I feel pain in my ribs. I look down and see that he did indeed nail me in the chest. I look back at him and am surprised to see that I landed my blow on his head. We stay there for a second just trying to comprehend what happened when we both jumped back and clashed swords in a test of strength. I see his face beneath his helmet and see that he is smiling. Crazy bastard is enjoying this too much. With renewed effort I push his sword to the right and sweep his feet. When he fell on his back he looked like he wanted to continue but I put the tip of my sword on his throat as a deterrent. He then fully lays down and pulls a thumbs up at me. The gym then erupts in applause as I help John to his feet.

"That was a good match" John said

"Too bad you didn't go all out" I say patting him on the back. His smile didn't go away, maybe even got bigger.

"How do you know" he said.

"You didn't dodge that sweep, even though I've seen you do it multiple times" I say

He chuckles "Well it would be bad press if our dear president lost to one of his subordinates" he said as he walked off the mat waving to me over his shoulder.

"Well folks, that certainly was an exhilarating match wasn't it. Any words Mr. President" Abby asks.

Said leader gets to the podium and smiles.

"Thank you Abigail. First let me congratulate the winner on a spectacular match. You're skill is certainly that of the ancient samurai."

I bow and say "thank you" then he gave a speech about how 'no matter the trials one can win with enough heart' and that 'competition, no matter the subject, can bring out the best of anyone', at least that's what I think he said, I kind of spaced out after he said 'trials'.

Once he was done I gave a final bow and went over to my team.

It went downhill from there.

There are _so many_ clubs. Most of them are so boring I can't imagine why someone would want to join. About three hours after our match people are _still _talking. I dozed off a couple of times only for Allie to bap my head. After the theater club finished their presentation, which was a scene from _Hamlet_, I heard the most beautiful words of that week.

"We are now ready for an hour break for lunch"

"THANK GOD" I say a little too loudly judging by the multiple glares and the hit on my head from the matriarch of my club.

The gym quickly emptied and I was walking with my team talking about nothing in particular. I put my hands in my pocket and freeze.

"Damn it" I say

"Hmm, what's wrong" John asks

"I forgot my phone. You guys go on ahead"

"OK see you in a bit"

I wave and start jogging back to the gym.

I arrive and am not surprised to see it devoid of life. I quickly go to our area and start looking for my phone. I find it in the pile of armor and just as I was about to exit and head back to my friends I heard a familiar voice.

"SOMEBODY! HELP ME" the voice shouted hoarsely. I would have missed it if there was anybody else in the gym talking. I recognize the voice as the President and acting on instinct I grab a bamboo sword and sprint in the direction of the voice.

"DON'T TOUCH ME! SOME ONE HELP" the voice seems to be getting more and more desperate. I reach a fork in the hallway and go left.

"Hold on" I shout to the abyss. I see a closed door with two people, wearing all black, guarding it. When they saw me I froze when I saw their eyes. There was nothing but glowing red pupils that made me feel queasy when I stared directly into them. They pull out batons and charge at me. I get into form and when the first one tried to get me in the gut I sidestepped and hit his hand and made him drop his weapon. I got hit in the back then got punched in the face. I grit my teeth to avoid my jaw getting broken or dislocated. I strike the man behind me in the gut with the pommel of my sword and smack the guy in front in the face with a backhand. I then duck when I see the man reel back his fist and go for a straight punch, resulting in him hitting his friend in the face. I then roll to the left and quickly get up.

"Why are you doing this" I yell at them. They didn't reply. The one that still had his weapon charged at me only for me to sidestep, kick the backside of his knee, smack him in the face with my sword, then do a spin strike to the face of his friend, sending both of them sprawling to the floor. The one that received the spin strike was on the ground unconscious. However the other one is struggling to get up I run over and kick his side, making him face upward. I stomp on his sternum making him cry out and put the tip of the sword on his throat, "Who are you people".

This time I got a reply but he was speaking in incoherent gibberish. With one final smack I silence his rant as he fell unconscious. I turn to the door that I bet the President is behind. I back up to the other side and start to ram the door with my shoulder. Once, ouch. Twice, double ouch. It was on the third time that the door started to give way. One final push should do it. I square my shoulders and charge the door.


	2. Chapter 2:

A/N: **Hello readers. Smam30 here telling you thanks for clicking on the next chapter button, which means you liked my first chapter enough to keep on reading. So...Thanks! please leave a review to tell me what you like(or dislike) so far. So without wasting more character space I give you Chapter 2.**

Chapter 2: THE SKY IS FALLING...AND IT'S GREEN!

Darkness. I see nothing but an endless Darkness. Soon the feeling comes to my body and I groan from the pain I feel all over. I open my eyes and see… an absolute wasteland. I struggle to my feet and do a quick check of my body. Everything is where it should be and I still have my clothes with me. I then turn to the land around me and see no signs of life anywhere. Everything is crazy, the sky is green! Where am I?

"The last thing I remember is shouldering through a door, how did I get here? _Where_ is here" I ask the abyss and am not surprised to find no answer. I pinch myself and wince, so I'm not in a dream. I look around again and double take when I see someone on the ground in the distance. It's something. I run towards him and I see him start to stand up. I also see that he is a _she_. She is also _extremely _short. She's also wearing a weird outfit, a green… tunic, I think, with a gray scarf, metal shoulder guards, and dark brown pants, I'm guessing they're made of leather. Slowing a little bit I put my hands next to my mouth and shout. "OOOIII, LADY! Over here"

She looks startled and went to get something from her hip, but I guess it's not there as she looked downright confused then looked at me and got into a brawler's stance.

"Who's there" she shouted then saw me jogging over to her "Who're you, what is this place, how did I get here, answer me" she says threateningly.

I put my hands up as a sign of compliance and stop about 10 ft. from her, she's shorter up close. And I also get a better look at her face; she has tan skin, about the same as mine, blue eyes, and a small beauty mark on her cheek with some other freckles. She also has black hair tied in a loose ponytail with some stray hairs framing her face. She also has an athletic body type "In order? You first, I don't know, and I don't know. Helpful, right?" I say sarcastically

She still hasn't put her fists down but she does look more relaxed. "Friend or foe"

I chuckle "Seeing as I'm not attacking you right now" I started

"You could be biding your time" she said and went back on guard.

I wave my hands "Fine, fine I'm a friend"

It took a couple seconds but she did eventually put her arms down, but I can tell she is still on guard. Though I can't say I'm completely relaxed around her either. Though I still can't believe how short she is. She must have noticed my staring when she asked "What? Have you never seen a dwarf before"? I take a step back. DWARF? I mean of course I've seen little people before, like Peter Dinklage, but somehow I don't think that's the kind she's talking about.

"W-Would you be surprised if I said no" I ask her a little shakily. Her eyes widen and look up at me and she looks genuinely shocked. She was about to reply when we heard something come from the abyss. We both look at each other with confused eyes. Then suddenly, as fast as lightning, a legion of spiders charge toward us.

"HOLY SHIT" we both shout and start sprinting in the other direction. Soon we see a mountain in the distance that wasn't there before. I point it out to my new friend, but apparently it was unnecessary as she sped up in the right direction. I must say, or think in this case, that even though her legs are shorter she is having no problem keeping up with me. Less than a minute passes when we are climbing frantically up the mountain. Sometimes when I think I have enough ground, and am brave enough, I chuck a few stones at the spiders still chasing us.

"Why are we climb-" I start but then see something at the top of the mountain. It has a feminine figure, and it seems to be glowing, as it waves to us to climb faster. I don't know why but I suddenly feel reinvigorated and I start to gain distance between me and the nightmare behind me. I turn to my dwarf friend, didn't get her name, to my right and then back to the glowing figure. The figure leans down and outstretches her arms to help us at the last stretch of mountain. I reach out with my right hand and Ms. Dwarf with her left. Then there was a white flash and I suddenly feel really cold. My vision is blurry and I look around in my dazed state and try to make sense of my surroundings. There's stone…flames…red stuff…Ms. Dwarf…people running toward us with…swords. That's cool. Darkness once again.

I awake with a start and look around. I have moved around a lot. This time I'm in some sort of…dungeon? Empty jail cells surround me as I'm in the middle of the room and Ms. Dwarf is beside me, still knock ou-ooowww. Suddenly my right hand feels like it's on _fire_ and I look down and see some sort of green lightning dance between my palm and fingers. Also, I'm in chains. Well that sucks. Well this can't get any worse- my nose itches. Great, I jinxed it. I try to reach it with my hand, but am dismayed to find out that my hands can't go that far. Crap, crap, crap, this is going to be such a- wait a second. My incarcerated friend isn't awake yet and I could bend over and- what am I thinking, that idea has got to be the worst in history. I sit there pondering what I could do to relieve this itch that has gotten worse with time. I look back at her and see her still unconscious. Damn it. Steeling myself and gulping loudly I lean over and start rubbing my nose…on her head. I hate this. Soon the itching goes away and I can-

"Ugh…my head" a female voice says…below me. I freeze. Maybe she won't notice if I move away slowly. "What. Are You. Doing" she grates out and I whip my head away from her and am glad our hands are chained.

"Sorry, I had an itch on my nose and I couldn't reach it with my hands, cause the chains on our hands, so I did the first thing that came to my mind and used your head to get rid of it and it did so thanks." I say in one breath and take a deep breath afterwards. She looks confused for a second, but soon she glares at me.

"You did WHAT" she shouts at me and looks like she was going to hit me when suddenly the pain came back again and we both gasp for breath as it subsides. Soon though the door was flung open and in walks four men wearing armor, real life armor, with some sort of weird emblem on them that was like an eye on fire. Then they took out their blades and went to the four corners of the room. Then two women walked in and I could tell they were in charge. They had an air of authority surrounding them. One had short black hair that could work on a guy as well, with kind of tan skin, hard to tell in the dark. She also had a long scar on her left cheek and a smaller one on her right and sharp angry brown eyes that were currently burning holes in our heads. She was wearing a different set of armor than those who came in first. She had dark purple leather under armor with dark leather gloves with all sorts of flair, such as metal studs, with leather pants with some armor plating and a lot of leather straps. What was really the armor was the piece of metal that covered most of her torso and that had the same emblem that the others did. I also noticed the fact that she has a long sword sheathed at her waist and a shield on her back that was almost as tall as her. The other one has no facial scarring, or anything wrong with her lightly tan skin, and long red hair and sharp hazel eyes that weren't glaring at us but instead were analyzing us. She had a purple hood and leather armor with chainmail covering the majority of it; she also had leather pants and boots. The black haired one went up to us and leaned down so that we could clearly see her face.

"Tell me why we shouldn't kill both of you right now" she growled out in a French accent. My eyes widen and I turn to Ms. Dwarf and see that she had a similar look on her face.

"Well I didn't do anything, did you do anything" I ask and point at her

"I didn't do anything either" she said. I turn back to our interrogator and see that she was seriously considering pulling out her sword and ending it right then and there.

"Oh really, the conclave was completely obliterated, no one survived, not even…not even the Divine." She said angrily then her voice grew soft when she mentioned this Divine thing. Then she went back to being angry when her gaze went back to us, "Except for you two"

"And you think we did it" Ms. Dwarf guessed. I am totally lost. What conclave, who or what is a Divine, why is everyone and everything suddenly in the medieval era? I was about to ask at least one of these questions when Ms. Bossy suddenly grabbed my right hand and Ms. Dwarf's left hand.

"Explain these" she growled and, as if summoned, the green lightning reappeared on our hands.

"I would love to," I say as I wrench my hand out of her grasp, "really I would, one problem: I can't"

"I can't either" my dwarf friend says as she got her hand free.

"What do you mean you can't" she gritted out.

"I can't remember" we say at the same time.

She then seized both of our throats "_YOU'RE LYING_" she screams. The redhead had to restrain her friend.

"We need them Cassandra" she says calmly as she lets go of the newly dubbed Cassandra. Thanks good cop.

"So what happens now" Ms. Dwarf asks with steel in her words.

"Wait a second I'm still lost, what the hell exactly happened" I ask sort of frantically

"We were hoping you could tell us. Do you remember what happened before the explosion? How this all began"

"Look we already told Ms. Solid-Grip over there that we can't-" I started but then flashes of running from something, then some sort of glowing figure appear in my head, "Wait I remember some things now. We were running from…something, then-"I say but am interrupted by my friend

"Then there was a woman" she finished for me. Seems she also remembers. A little bit at least.

"A woman" Red asks clearly surprised.

"Yeah, she reached out to us then…" I try to finish but my mind can't recall what happened next.

"I can't recall anything after that" Ms. Dwarf explains. I shrug in my shared amnesia.

Cassandra then gets in front of Red and pats her shoulder "Go to the forward camp, Leliana. I will take them to the rift" she says and looks back at us. Leliana then left without another word. Cassandra then went over to us and started undoing our chains. Mine first.

"You know you never did answer my question. What, _the_ _hell_, happened" I say with a little more venom than necessary. She undid Ms. Dwarf's chains and helped us both up. We still had ropes around our wrists.

"It…would be easier to show rather than tell" she said as she headed out the door, Ms. Dwarf following closely. I hesitate for a bit.

"Well that's fucking ominous" I say as I jog to catch up to them.

Soon we were outside and I had to shield my eyes from the sudden change in light. I look around and see a mountainous area with trees dotting the horizon and I see wooden houses with people rushing from place to place. What really caught my eye though were the amount of snow everywhere and the rapidly decreasing temperature of my body. I shiver involuntarily.

"Ok so where's this thing supposed to be" I say. Then I look left and see Ms. Dwarf and Cassandra looking at something in the…SKY?! "What the hell is that" I say quietly as I walk up next to them. It's a gigantic hole in the sky. It looks like an eye of a storm with green light pouring out of it with pieces of huge rubble stuck in midair.

"We call it 'The Breach'. It is a massive rift into the world of demons and it grows larger with each passing hour" Cassandra says somberly. She then turns to us, "It is not the only such rift, just the largest by far. All of them, however, were caused by the explosion at the Conclave" she explains.

"An explosion can do _that_" I exclaim surprised.

"Well apparently this one did" Ms. Dwarf says.

"Yes, and, unless we act, the Breach may grow until it swallows the world" Cassandra added ominously.

I was about to say something when I heard the sound of electricity and green lightning rained down from the Breach then the white hot pain came back with a vengeance. My hand moved on its own and it was pointing towards the Breach. I yell out in pain and Ms. Dwarf gasped in pain. I drop to a knee until the pain went away while my friend went on both knees. Cassandra rushes to us.

"Each time the Breach expands, your marks spread… and it is fatal" she says to us and does not move to help us. The snow begins to wet my jeans and I instantly feel colder. Cassandra continued talking "they may be the keys to stopping this, but there isn't much time"

Ms. Dwarf gasps in pain and looks at her incredulously, "Still think either one of us did this…to ourselves" she questions

"Maybe it was an error or some way to get off without facing a trial" she says weakly.

"All according to the master plan, right" I say sarcastically. I think she doubts her first impulse.

"Even if both of you are innocent, you are still the only suspects we have" she says with a little bit more steel than previously.

"Wait, you said that these" I say and gesture to my right hand, "might be the keys. To doing what exactly" I question.

"To closing the Breach," she replies then her eyes got soft, "though whether or not it is possible…we shall see"

I turn to my friend, need to learn her name, and she to me. I could tell by looking into her eyes that we were thinking the same thing. We nod to each other and turn back to Cassandra "We understand" we say in unison.

"T-Then…" she trails off.

"If I can help, I will" Ms. Dwarf says.

"And I'm not going to lie down and wait for an agonizing death, I'll do what I can" I say. Then I look towards the Breach and sigh, "Hopefully, it'll be enough"


	3. Chapter 3: The Fallen

A/N:** Hello readers, Smam30 here to say 'Sorry for the wait'. Life, y'know? Anyway I hope this chapter makes up for the wait. Enjoy.**

Chapter 3

After pledging to do whatever it takes to stop this apocalypse, Cassandra guides us to the gate of the town we were holed up in. During which Ms. Dwarf and I received many death glares and some people actually threw stones at us. I had to dodge one that would've hit me in the head. All the while Cassandra was giving us a brief history lesson on who this Divine was, this place's pope basically, and the fact that there is a war going on between these guys called Templars and mages, like real life _magic_ mages. It took me a minute to digest that fact. Apparently this Conclave was supposed to be peace talks and the war was on its way to being over, then shit hit the fan. Soon we reached the gate and they opened at Cassandra's order. We then stood on a stone bridge that had seen better days. There were injured soldiers on cots waiting for the doc to get to them. There were also people giving last rites to the ones who wouldn't make it. Just what did I agree to do? Cassandra stops us and pulls out the knife that she kept on her lower back.

"Until the Breach is sealed…" she left that thought open and cut the ropes binding mine and my friend's wrists, "There will be a trial, I can promise no more" she says calmly. I rub my sore wrists.

"See you can be nice when you're not yelling at us" I say jokingly. Cassandra just glares and I keep my smile on my face.

"Come on we don't have much time to waste" Ms. Dwarf says.

"Yes, we must make haste" Cassandra adds. We then start jogging over the bridge and I turn to my friend.

"So you got a name or shall I keep on referring to you as Ms. Dwarf in my head" I ask.

She looks at me as if I'm crazy, then shakes her head and looks on ahead, "Cadash" she says simply.

"What, that's it" I ask trying to get more out of her.

"If we survive this, then I'll tell you my first name" she says lightheartedly.

"So now I have a goal…not that I was keen on dying anyway. Sezar by the way" I say as we stop behind Cassandra as we wait for the second gate to open. Cadash looks at me confused.

"What" she asks.

"My name, my first name anyway. Survive this, then I'll tell you my last name" I say ironically. Cadash then chuckles.

Cassandra looks back at us with angry eyes

"If both of you are quite finished…" she left off with a silent threat. She then started to guide us to the Breach.

As we're walking I take this time to look around my surroundings and marvel at the lack of human interference with nature. There are only a few places on Earth that has no buildings for miles around and they look nothing like this. I walk around a burning cart and wonder why they are using such primitive technology. It's probably because they have to. I sigh. "I'm not in Kansas anymore" I say softly.

"Hmm…? You say something" Cadash asks me. To which I shake my head. She looks at me a little bit longer then shrugs and went back to looking ahead. My eyes roam around taking in everything around me. There has to be a reason why everything is so foreign. Every time I try to think about what happened after I barged through the door I get a headache and just more questions than answers. I hear the sound of booming electricity again and swear. This is going to hur-"AAAAHHHH". I fall on my back and hold my right hand in the snow to try to relieve the sweltering pain I just felt. I look to my left and see Cadash did not fare any better. Cassandra must have heard my manly yelp of pain because faster than I can get my breath back I feel her lifting me to my feet.

"The pulses are coming faster now" she said as she helped Cadash to her feet. She then continued to guide us, "The larger the Breach grows, the more demons we face" she explains.

"Wait, demons, _demon _demons, are coming out of that thing" I say startled. Cassandra then turns to look at me with impatient eyes.

"Yes, as I said before, the Breach is a rift into the world of demons. All caused by the explosion at the Conclave" she said impatiently.

"How _did _we survive the explosion" Cadash wondered out loud.

"They say you both stepped out of a rift, and then fell unconscious" Cassie explains. Cassie… I'll keep that one.

"So what are you going to do? Accuse us of being demons" I say half-jokingly.

"_I _won't, but others may not be so kind"

"So what we just fell out of a rift, just willy-nilly" Caddy Shack asks. Good one brain.

"No, they also say a woman was behind you in the rift." Cassie explains as we reach another gate to another bridge, "No one knows who she is, or was" she added as the gate opened. On the bridge were just a couple of soldiers guarding the other side, while there were some boxes on the edge. We started walking quickly.

"So we have that in common at least" I quip.

Whatever response the other two were going to say were dashed as, out of nowhere, a green meteor came and smashed the bridge into smithereens. The feeling of weightlessness came and went quickly as I fall to the frozen lake beneath the ex-bridge. I land on my back on some rubble and start tumbling until I come to a stop and I am face down on some ice. Good thing those rocks were there to break my fall. I hear the groans of my companions as they slowly get to their feet. Man, today is just _not_ my day. I moan as I try to steadily get up and stop the landscape from spinning. I barely have time to get out of my dazed state when four more meteors come crashing to the ground around us, splitting the ice and sending snow everywhere, geysers of green flame erupting from the spots where the meteors landed. Luckily they were nowhere near us this time, unluckily though, I see hands shoot out from the fires and gain purchase on the ice of the lake and pull up their bodies, which were grotesque grey and shriveled skin covered, hunched body, with a hood and lower robes that were ancient looking. What really got me were the glowing white eyes, or rather _eye_. Just looking at them I began to feel queasy. Cassandra, however, was on the attack straight away. Her sword drawn and shield at the ready, she got in front of me and Cadash.

"Stay behind me" she orders at us then charged at the nearest monstrosity. As tempted as I am to just let Cassandra do all the work, I did promise to do what I can to help. I quickly look around for some type of weapon. I spot the crates that fell with us and see that they didn't survive the fall and the contents were spilling all over the ground. Luckily those contents were weapons. I was not alone in seeing this as Cadash runs and gets herself a sword and shield, though they look a lot more…withered than Cassie's. I sprint over to the box as Caddy shouts a war cry and charges into the fray. I frantically look through the sharp pieces of metal in hopes of finding something I can use effectively. Dagger, no, bow, nope, stick…really…a stick. I see another monster slithering towards me with its sharpened hand raised in the air. I rapidly increase my searching speed and find another handle of a weapon. Better be good. As the monster's hand slashed down, its intentions clear, I lift the blade in an awkward block. I stop its talons on the back of the blade. I then push the hand away as I stand up and almost stumble over as the blade is _a lot _heavier than I thought. I then duck beneath another swipe and I run the blade through the monster and tug the blade from its body and see it's covered in black sludge. The thing then screams in agony as it morphs into a black puddle. I try hard not to gag from the smell as I look over and see Cadash blocking blows from two monsters with a little trouble. I then see Cassie expertly tanking her own couple of monsters as she tries to retaliate but only lands glancing blows. I lift my sword over my shoulder and sprint towards Caddy shack and do a spin slash that decapitates one of the demons without a single sound as it morphs into a black puddle. Caddy shack then uses the distraction I gave to slice one of the thing's arms off then runs the blade through the exposed stomach of the wailing monster and bashes it with her shield. The thing spasms for a few seconds before morphing into a black slime puddle. I then turn to help out Cassie, only to see her finishing off her last opponent with a thrust through the gut. We stay still for a few seconds to see if any more will show up, soon we lower our guard a bit as I turn to talk to Cassandra…who has her sword pointed at us.

"Drop your weapons, now" she commands.

"No problem, I need a lighter weapon anyway" I say as I drop the great-sword to the ground and a cloud of snow pops up. My eyes go wide, geez I was waving _that _around?

"I don't think that's what she's talking about" Cadash says, keeping a firm grip on her weapons

"Wait what" I ask and look to Cassandra and see that she still hasn't lowered her sword. I groan," Cassie we're not going to stab you in the back"

"Besides we need to trust one another" Caddy adds

It took a few seconds but she soon sheathed her weapon, "You are right, I can't always protect you and I can't expect you to be defenseless" she then started walking a bit before turning to look back at us, "I should remember that you came willingly" then continued walking up a hill, Caddy shack and I following.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, do we know where we are going" I say as I look at the expanse of the snow covered plains.

"Oh I don't know maybe the giant green hole in the sky" Caddy remarks dryly.

I chuckle, "Okay Ms. I'm-not-color-blind, how are we going to get to it"

She looks like she wants to reply but can't come up with an answer.

"There is a camp we control not too far ahead" Cassie adds and points in the direction it is. I look over and see something in the air.

"Uhh…where the smoke is coming from" I say and Cassie eyes widen to saucers.

"W-What," she said then saw the smoke coming from the camp then turns to us with her eyes sharp, "Come, we must help them" she said as she took off in a sprint. Running, hooray. I take a deep breath and follow Cassie, Caddy staying with me.

"Do you think anyone's still alive" she yelled to Cassie as I see her start ascending a slope.

"I know two people that will not be killed by mere demons" she yells back.

I see something gleam in my eyes and look over to see a long-sword in the snow, sunlight reflecting off the iron. Since I got rid of my only weapon, I need one in order to help out. I run over to it and bend over to pick it up, when I see something else…someone else. There in the snow, with his face clearly in view, was a soldier. A boy no older than me, his eyes half-lidded in a sickening resemblance to a man at peace. He wore the armor I've seen all the other ones wear. His body has…has three long gashes in his torso, the blood long stopped and froze. This sword must have been his, one given to him as they told him to go fight some evil and either live or die a hero. I pick up the sword and see an engraving in the cross guard. 'Save me some ale in the bar in the sky'. If my eyes weren't watering I would have laughed. I look down at the soldier and bend down, close his eyes and stand up.

"Thank you for your sacrifice. I will wield this weapon proudly. Enjoy the ale man, you deserve it" I whisper to him as I grab the sheath next to him and sheath the sword. I turn and see Cassandra and Cadash looking at me. I quickly wipe my eyes.

"I know him" Cassandra says softly as she sees the fallen soldier

"Y-You do" I ask quietly

"Yes, his name was Zarrick, from Redcliffe. He was a promising young recruit and was put in charge of his own squad." I look around to see if there were any more bodies, but there weren't.

"I don't see any other bodies" Cadash eloquently puts.

"He most likely stayed behind to cover his squad's retreat, a noble effort" Cassandra said.

I stay silent and start to walk away then turn to my companions, "Well, what are we waiting for… we've got a camp to save"


End file.
